Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rushed to wrap up their legacy loan issues as 2013 wound to a close with multiple announcements of buyback settlements tied to loans originated prior to 2009. On Dec. 30, Fannie announced a $591 million agreement with Wells Fargo to resolve repurchase requests on certain loans originated prior to 2009.

Some GSE watchers fear that new Federal Housing Finance Agency director Mel Watt might slow GSE risk sharing deals but those concerns may be unwarranted.

Fannie, Freddie and their regulator have been dogged in their pursuit of claims against banks that sold defective mortgages to the GSEs prior the financial crisis.

When it comes to doing business with Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo's volume is almost three-times that of its closest competitor, Chase Home Finance, IMF found.

One big way “that we think would help resolve some of that [QM] anxiety is [having] a right to cure,” said Pete Mills of MBA.

In a letter sent to new agency Director Mel Watt, GOP Congressmen Scott Garrett, Randy Neugebauer and John Campbell note that the 10 basis point increase proposed by Watt’s predecessor is not the only fee adjustment up for grabs.

This time around, Congress is considering tapping Fannie/Freddie g-fees as lawmakers look toward an extension of unemployment benefits, which expired on December 31.

“Transactions submitted with consumer-paid compensation more than 50 bps below [the] broker’s lender-paid tier will be rejected permanently and will not be eligible for re-submission,” Fifth Third Bank is warning.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generated $182.2 billion of new single-family mortgage-backed securities during the final three months of 2013, their lowest quarterly output since the third quarter of 2011, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking. Fourth-quarter volume for the two government-sponsored enterprises was down 36.1 percent from the previous quarter, with Fannie posting the bigger decline, 36.8 percent. Freddie volume in the final three months of the year was off 34.7 percent from the third quarter, which helped modestly boost its share of the GSE market to 35.2 percent. For the year, Freddie accounted...[Includes three data charts]

MGIC's stock is trading near a 52-week high of $8.82 a share. The company, like the rest of the sector, is anxiously waiting on new capital-to-risk standards from FHFA.